Three Taunton area employers awarded workforce training/hiring grants

TAUNTON — Two businesses and one non-profit organization in the Greater Taunton region will receive state funding to hire more workers and provide training for existing employees.

The three applied and qualified for the state’s Workforce Training Fund Program, which derives its own funding from unemployment insurance paid by employers in the commonwealth.

The three are Emond Brothers Home Decorating, a Raynham-based home-design company; Homes for Our Troops, a Taunton non-profit that builds specialized homes for severely wounded military veterans; and Depuy Synthes Inc. a Raynham/Bridgewater division of Johnson & Johnson.

The local recipients are among 121 Massachusetts companies and non-profit employers who qualified for the $11.9 million funding pool.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito last week announced the awarding of the nearly $12 million in grants while recognizing October as National Manufacturing Month.

Depuy Synthes received the largest amount of the three Taunton-area employers. The J&J division was awarded $223,100 to train 56 workers and add four new jobs by 2019.

Homes for Our Troops is receiving $133,000 to train its staff of 66 and hire four additional people by 2019.

Emond Brothers will collect $26,400 to add five new jobs by 2019 and train its current staff of 16 workers.

Emond Brothers General Manager Loretta Chappelle said the funding will enable her and owner Francis “Peter” Emond to implement “process improvements.”

Those improvements, she said, will come by way of computer training provided by UMass Boston College of Management.

Chappelle said the existing in-house system will be upgraded so that project quotes and orders can be turned around quicker.

New hires, she said, will likely include a floor designer and a kitchen and bathroom designer.

Chappelle said the last time before the most recent round of funding that she applied for the state grant was back in 2003.

She says she decided to once again apply after attending classes taught by Bristol Community College’s Center for Workforce and Community Education.

Chappelle said she was informed last April that Emond Brothers had qualified.

Bill Ivey, executive director of Homes For Our Troops, said the $133,000 in grant funding will provide training to all 66 employees to increase overall efficiency.

He said he anticipates eventually hiring an additional construction manager, another “land-search person” and two “revenue generators” who work the phones in Taunton to solicit donations.

“We’re excited to partner with these two groups,” said Ivey, referring to the state’s Commonwealth Corporation, which administers the grant program, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Ivey also credits Bristol Community College for providing guidance — which he says allowed him and his board of directors to pinpoint deficiencies that can be corrected with appropriate training.

“They (BCC) were extremely helpful,” Ivey said.

The Baker-Polito administration said the latest round of funding will result in workforce training for nearly 7,000 workers statewide and the hiring of 1,000 new workers.

State Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, in a statement, described the grant program as a “powerful tool” in terms of job creation and economic development.

“I congratulate these great companies in my district who have made workforce training a priority,” Pacheco said.

Kevin Shea, executive director of the Taunton Office of Economic and Community Development, said he wasn’t surprised that a handful of Taunton area employers had qualified for the latest round of workforce training grants.